1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for denaturing food products using a marking agent borne by a carrier agent immiscible with said food product and more particularly to such a method and apparatus which permit heretofore unusable substances to be employed as a carrier agent for a dye in denaturing a food product to preclude diffusion of the dye in the food product thereby insuring that a minimum quantity of dye is required in the denaturing operation while simultaneously insuring that a striking visual contrast is maintained between the dye and the food product.
The applicant's co-pending patent application entitled "Method and Apparatus For Denaturing Food Products Not Intended For Human Consumption", Ser. No. 664,149, filed Mar. 5, 1976, hereinafter referred to as "application Ser. No. 664,149", discloses a method and apparatus for denaturing food products by streaking the food products with a dye or other marking agent. As disclosed in that patent application, the applicant has discovered that by striping, streaking, or otherwise intermittently dying portions of flowable meat material, such material can be marked to denote that it is unfit for human consumption utilizing significantly reduced quantities of dye and achieving a high degree of visual contrast between the natural color of the meat and the dye material. The present invention constitutes an improvement in the method and apparatus of that invention as well as significant advance over prior art practices in the denaturing of food products.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
"Denaturing" is the process by which food products are marked to indicate that they are not fit for human consumption. While the products may be well suited to other uses, government regulations require that such products be denatured to avoid inadvertent human consumption. Heretofore water based dyes have been employed as the marking agents in denaturing food products. Since most food products contain high percentages by volume of water, the dye has tended to diffuse throughout the food mass. This problem is particularly pronounced in the denaturing of meat, such as beef, poultry and fish, which is itself at least 70 percent water. Prior art practice has called for the meat to be comminuted and the entire meat mass so formed to be dyed. Diffusion of the dye within the meat mass has caused the visual intensity of the dye to be significantly depleted. In many cases the extent of the diffusion has been such that the color of the denatured meat has not appeared appreciably different from natural coloration. Another difficulty encountered where such diffusion occurs has been that considerably more dye per volume of meat has been required than desired to achieve a given denaturing effect. Thus, the dye, which is expensive when used in the quantities required in an effort to overcome the effect of diffusion, has not been used efficiently.
Therefore, it has long been known that it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus for denaturing food products which preclude the diffusion of the marking agent in the food product, which insure that a minimum quantity of the marking agent is required to denature a given volume of food, and which employ the marking agent at maximum efficiency in achieving striking visual contrast between the food mass and the marking agent as a result of the denaturing process.